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Health Insurance Mergers May Fundamentally Change Market

Recently proposed mergers between the healthcare giants Anthem/Cigna and Aetna/Humana would reduce the number of national health insurance providers from five to just three, spurring questions about the potential effects of reduced competition. In response, a great deal of attention has focused on whether the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may block Aetna's $37 billion acquisition of Humana and Anthem's $54 billion takeover of Cigna on antitrust grounds; however, policymakers point out that health plans are typically regulated by the states, which have a broader mandate to scrutinize issues raised by the deals.

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